


remember the time you drove all night

by RevolutionariesDontWearPlaid (GhostGrantaire)



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-14
Updated: 2015-02-14
Packaged: 2018-03-12 08:56:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3350807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostGrantaire/pseuds/RevolutionariesDontWearPlaid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Joly and Combeferre's first Valentine's Day together, and things get a bit complicated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	remember the time you drove all night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [satb31](https://archiveofourown.org/users/satb31/gifts).



> For the prompt: "I'd love to see something cute and funny with the two doctors related to their common experiences in medicine -- maybe they work together, or one has to treat the other one and he's a difficult patient, or something like that." It got away from me a bit, but hopefully you'll enjoy it!
> 
> Title comes from the Bright Eyes song "First Day of My Life"

“Joly,” he heard in greeting as he walked down the hallway, clipboard in hand. Joly glanced up just in time to see Combeferre walking past him with a group of interns trailing behind him. Their eyes met briefly, and Combeferre gave a discreet wink before looking back down the hallway. Joly could feel a flush creep down his neck and he quickly went back to his clipboard, ignoring the curious looks from the interns.

Combeferre and Joly had had this… thing going on for a couple of months now, though they both silently agreed to not talk about it. It had all started on New Years, when Joly had mentioned something off handed about not having kissed anyone since he’d broken up with Bossuet. Combeferre had looked at him strangely, and then kissed him softly on the cheek. Before they knew it, they were in Comberferre's room, and when it struck midnight, they were both too far gone to care.

The antics had continued since then. Sometimes on lunch break Joly would pull Combeferre into a janitor’s closet at the hospital and they would make out like two eager teenagers. Other days Combeferre would knock on Joly's apartment door late in the evening with the pretense of discussing how their days went; they never got any talking done.

Joly never felt uncomfortable with their situation, and he definitely wasn't ashamed, but he really didn't see the point of addressing it when things were going so well. However, it was now February 12th, Valentine's Day was almost upon them, and Joly had no idea what that was supposed to mean for them.

What were you supposed to do on the most romantic day of the year with one of your closest friends that you'd been screwing around with for months?

It was times like this that his anxiety seemed to get the best of him. He knew that talking to Combeferre was an option, but there was a part of him that worried about messing things up between them. Joly hadn’t ever really thought about Combeferre in a romantic way before, but now that it was on his mind… well, there really wasn’t anyone else he’d rather spend the day with.

The problem remained that he had absolutely no idea how to bring it up to his friend.  
  
It shouldn’t have been difficult. Combeferre was the most understandable person in the world, and even if he didn’t want to spend the day with Joly, he still would still talk to Joly reasonably and be sure to keep things normal between them. But every time he saw Combeferre with the intention of having the conversation, Combeferre would smile at him with those subtle dimples or look at him with dark eyes and there wouldn’t be much time for the conversation.  
  
He heard a loud laugh come from down the hallway and he couldn’t help but crane his head around to look. The interns were all crowded around, still chuckling. Combeferre was standing in front of them with a small smile on his face, the one that he wore when he was proud of himself for something, but didn’t want to show it. Joly couldn’t help but smile at the look on his friend’s face. He ended up staring for longer than he’d thought because Floreal, a nurse who’d started at the hospital around the same time as Joly, stopped beside him.  
  
“So, when are you going to ask Dr. Combeferre out?” She asked, drawing out the name in her mouth.  
  
Joly jolted, quickly rearranging the papers on his clipboard. “He’s one of my best friends, Floreal.”  
  
“Still. It’s better you ask him out before one of those interns try to scoop him up for V-day,” she said, and Joly tried to ignore the sinking feeling that she was right.  
  
“I don’t want to make things weird,” he admitted, knowing he was past the point of lying to her.  
  
“Oh come on. He’s totally crazy about you. Who wouldn’t love you, 5 feet and all?” Floreal teased, and he glared playfully at her. He glanced back at Combeferre and was surprised to see him looking back. Joly’s eyes widened before he smiled again and waved half-heartedly. Combeferre cocked his head to the side, obviously confused on why Joly just waved of all things, but he soon smiled and gave his own wave back.  
  
Floreal chuckled under her breath. Joly just turned back to his work, firmly ignoring both her and the sort of nauseous feeling in his stomach that seemed to come up more often around Combeferre these days.  
  
Joly didn’t see Combeferre again until lunch break. He looked up from his book to see the tall man enter the room and head straight for the coffee pot. There was a group of nurses at another table chatting wildly but Combeferre didn’t even look at them, immediately heading for Joly’s table.  
  
“Hey,” Joly greeted him, hoping it came across as casual and not as nervous as he felt.  
  
“Hey. Have you had a good day so far?” Combeferre looked at him with that unique look of his that made Joly know that he was actually interested in what he had to say.  
  
“It was alright. Really just did a bunch of paperwork, but it was alright. You?” He bookmarked the page he was on and closed the book, divesting his full attention to Combeferre.  
  
“Fine. The new interns seem nice enough.” Combeferre smiled a bit, as if remembering something from earlier that day, and Joly instantly became jealous.  
  
“Would you like to spend Valentine’s Day with me on Saturday?” Joly said suddenly, wanting nothing more than to look away from Combeferre but he forced himself to keep his eyes forward.  
  
Combeferre blinked, cocking his head to the side. “As friends, or as a date?”  
  
Joly swallowed. “Um. A date? If you wanted.”  
  
Combeferre looked at him for a couple second and Joly wondered if his heart would spontaneously combust before he remembered that was not, in fact, possible. “Yeah, that sounds fun. I’d love to.”  
  
Joly let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding and smiled. “Wonderful.”

 ~*~

Two days later, Joly couldn’t believe his luck. He’d been stressing over this date all weekend, wanting everything to go absolutely perfect. They were going to meet at a restaurant somewhere between both of their apartments, and afterwards walk around the streets and perhaps visit a bar or something of the sort. Casual, but nice. Friendly. Easy.  
At least it was supposed to have been.  
  
At eight o’clock, Joly was at home, pulling off his button down shirt and trousers and changing into his scrubs. He had his phone pressed to his ear, listening to the dial tone on repeat.  
  
“Joly?” He heard after a second, and he tried not to focus on how breathless Combeferre’s voice sounded.  
“Hey Combeferre,” he said, trying not to sound too disappointed.  
  
“What’s wrong?” Combeferre responded, and Joly closed his eyes in anguish, feeling the  
disappointment hit him full-force.  
  
“Well, I got called in,” Joly sighed, sitting on the side of his bed. “They need me down at the ER, I think another nurse had to go home early for some emergency.”  
  
“Oh,” Combeferre said, and for a moment Joly wanted to just take it all back and go on the date anyway. “Well that’s alright, we can do this anytime.”  
  
“Are you sure?” Joly asked nervously.  
  
“Of course. Take care of yourself on your shift, and get plenty of sleep tomorrow, yeah?”  
  
Joly smiled faintly at the concern in Combeferre’s voice. “Yeah, of course. Not my first night shift.”  
  
Combeferre chuckled. “Of course. Well, text me when you’re done, yeah? Even if it’s late.”  
  
Joly nodded, even though he knew he was alone. “Sure. And, uh, happy Valentine’s Day, ‘Ferre.”  
  
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Joly.”  
  
Joly hung up the phone, taking a moment to breathe before grabbing his coat and keys and running out to his car.  
  
The next six hours passed slowly, and by the end of it, Joly felt dead on his feet. He sat on a bench in the hall, staring at the white wall across from him. After a second he pulled out his phone, jotting out a quick message to Combeferre before tucking it back into his pocket. He rested his head in his hands gently, just wanting to close his eyes for a second before he would drive back home.

~*~

“Joly.” Joly blinked his eyes open and he felt a hand rest lightly on his shoulder. He winced at the bright hospital lights and it took him a moment to focus on the face in front of him.  
  
“Combeferre?” The man in question gave a small smile from where he was kneeling down in front of the bench.  
  
“Yep. I thought I might find you here.” Combeferre gave a small smile, tilting his head to the side.  
  
“It’s 2:00 in the morning,” Joly said for some reason he wasn’t really sure.  
  
“Actually, it’s 2:30,” Combeferre corrected, standing up, and Joly finally got a good look at him. He was wearing a loose T-shirt and sweatpants, which was so very not Combeferre, and Joly wondered if he had pulled his friend out of bed. “Come on. Trust me, the hospital is not the best place to spend the night.”

Joly accepted the hand that Combeferre held out, still a bit confused on what exactly was happening. “What are you doing here?” He asked after a minute of finding words.

“After you texted me, I texted you back a couple of times, and when you didn’t reply I thought it was best if I just drove down here.” Combeferre explained it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

His confusion must have showed on his face because Combeferre was soon elaborating even further. “I wasn’t going to let you sleep here, and you are definitely in no condition to drive yourself home. We’ll pick up your car in the morning.”

Joly didn’t protest as they walked towards the doors of the ER, leaning heavily against the 6’4’’ man. By the time they got to the parking lot, Combeferre was practically carrying him, which wasn’t much of a feat seeing as most people said he was as light as a feather, but Joly appreciated it all the same. He stumbled into the passenger’s seat of Combeferre’s car, listening as the man got in the other side. He could feel Combeferre’s large hand encompass his hand, and it was the last thing he remembered before he was fast asleep. Perhaps his day hadn’t been all bad.


End file.
